


An Encounter At A Party

by afteriwake



Category: Cabin Pressure, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, House Party, Party, Sick Character, Sick Martin, Talking, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 16:58:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6017518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Molly gets dragged to a party by her friend and then essentially left alone, and a chance encounter with someone puking in the bushes leaves her with a much better evening than planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Encounter At A Party

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chitarra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chitarra/gifts).



> So I've had a mountain of non-Sherlolly prompts sitting in folders for ages, and I had them set up to be claimed. I did have an order, but a few of them I decided were going to be Valentine's Day themed so I'd write them out of order. This particular Cabinlock fic was claimed by **Chitarra** and was an answer to an **otpprompts** prompt on Tumblr (" _Imagine Person A of your OTP is at a party. They get bored so they go outside to get some fresh air. The second they step outside, someone (aka Person B) is almost done puking their guts out. Person A asks them if they’re okay, Person B tells them they’re good. Both sit outside talking for a while and begin to slowly fall for each other. Bonus: both give each other their phone numbers so they can continue to be in touch_ "). Hopefully she enjoys it!

This was not at all what she had expected, to be quite honest. Meena had dragged her here, saying it was supposed to be a fun get together for single folk on Valentine’s Day and she’d have a man to snog within an hour. Maybe even a half hour. And it had worked out well enough for her, but it was now an hour and a half later and she was bored out of her mind. The music was loud and grating on her eardrums, and the drinks were badly mixed. The one she’d been sipping slowly since she got there was far too strong.

Finally she decided enough was enough. Someone had been smart and brought a few cases of bottled water as well, so she took one and made her way towards the backyard of the home where the party was being held. Truthfully, she wasn’t really fond of parties like this. She liked smaller get togethers where she knew everyone there, where there wasn’t blaring music or super strong drinks. Where there was good conversation and good food and it was a nice, civilized atmosphere. Parties like this reminded her of the benders she had gone to in university, when she’d tried to entice men and failed miserably.

Not much had changed over the years, apparently.

With a sigh, she pushed through the doors and took a gulp of the fresh air, glad that once the door shut the noise from inside was greatly lessened. The backyard area was decently lit and she moved away from the home to see if there was a place she could sit until Meena either got tired of the tall, dark and sort of handsome bloke she was snogging or she sought her out to tell her that she needed to find her own way home tonight. It wouldn’t be long, she thought.

She was almost to the seating area when she heard the unmistakable sound of someone vomiting. She made her way over and saw a man hunched over, heaving his guts out into a bush. She hovered nearby, not quite sure what to do. Finally she spoke. “Are you all right?” she asked.

Then man panted for a few moments. “Been better,” he got out, and her eyes widened. He sounded almost exactly like Sherlock. Not quite so cold, though, and a bit younger maybe. When he lifted his head up to look at her she was surprised to see that the resemblance was physical, too, except for the shock of ginger hair and the freckles across his nose.

She hesitated a moment, then knelt down and handed the water bottle she had in her hand to him. “You look like you might need this more than I do,” she said, giving him a small smile.

“Thanks,” he said gratefully. He took the water bottle and took a sip and then spit it out, and then took another sip and swallowed that one. He rocked back slightly and then sat on his arse, and after a moment Molly smoothed her skirt against her legs and then sat next to him. “I probably didn’t make the best impression. I never seem to.”

“It’s all right,” she said warmly. “I just wanted to make sure you’re all right.” She offered him her hand. “I’m Molly. Molly Hooper.”

“Martin Crieff,” he said, switching hands to hold the bottle of water and then shaking hers. When they were done he switched the bottle back to his other hand and had another sip. “I was supposed to meet a friend here but I think I went to the wrong address. But there was food and booze and so I stayed.”

“Ah,” she said with a nod. “I got brought here by a friend who tried to convince me I’d find someone to snog on Valentine’s Day. She did, but so far I’ve been empty handed.”

“Someone as pretty as you?” he blurted out. She stared at him a moment and then he blushed, the tips of his ears turning red. “Oh, no, I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

She nodded, smiling at him. “You did. But it was nice to hear,” she said. “I don’t normally get compliments, or at least ones from people who mean them.”

“You should get them more often,” he said, ducking his head slightly.

She tilted her head slightly. “Well, there should be more men in the world like you, I think,” she said, reaching over to put a hand on his arm.

“There are people I know who wouldn’t agree,” he said, shaking his head.

“Well, then they’re idiots.”

Martin grinned at that and then nodded towards the house. “I don’t think I’m going to have any more of those drinks. They’re awful, aren’t they? I only had half of mine but apparently it didn’t agree with me.”

“God yes,” Molly said. “What did you drink?”

“Rum and Coke,” he said. “It must have been mostly rum.”

She made a face. “Probably shite rum at that. I think the whole point of the drinks are to get everyone pissed so they go off and find a dark secluded area and have a bit of fun. Not exactly my type of scene.”

“Mine either,” he said. “I don’t normally go to places like this. I’m not a party person.”

She smiled. “Well, maybe it’s a good thing you came to this one.”

“Maybe it is,” he said with a grin. “So…why don’t you tell me more about yourself?”

“All right,” she said with a nod. They started to talk, and the more they talked the more she found she really liked him. Martin was quite sweet, really, and very different from most of the men she’d met. He was certainly different from Sherlock, despite the physical similarities, and the more they spoke the more she realized she would really like to get to know him better, to talk to him more.

To see him again after tonight.

She didn’t know how long it had been when she realized she was cold and she needed some water. “Do you feel like getting up and sitting on a proper seat? I’d like to keep talking but the concrete’s making my bum cold. If you want to get us a seat, I’ll go get a couple more bottles of water and we can talk for a while, if that’s all right with you?” she asked

“That sounds good to me,” he said with a nod. He stood up and then offered her his hand, helping her up. She stumbled slightly and he caught her, keeping her close, and she looked up at him with a smile on her face. It felt rather nice to be close to someone, and it had been such a long time. She almost didn’t want to go. As though he could read her mind, he said, “Do you really need to go get the water?”

“No, I suppose I don’t,” she said. After a moment she did take a step back. “Do you think your friend is going to show up?”

“I think Arthur may have gotten lost,” he said. “Is your friend going to be upset if you leave?”

“I doubt she’ll miss me if I go,” she said with a wide smile. “Should we take this conversation somewhere quieter, where we can have something to eat that might not unsettle your stomach again?”

“I’d like that,” Martin said, nodding. He let her go, with some reluctance, and Molly turned to go inside with him next to her. She’d go find Meena, tell her that she was going to be on her own for the rest of the evening, and then she was going to go off and have what she hoped would be a delightful conversation with a very delightful man.

And if anything else happened…well, that might just make her Valentine’s Day all the much better.


End file.
